Month: April 2010
(page 1 of 2)

As much as I like cinema, and as much as I support my country’s football team in its quite desperate attempt not to look absolutely ridiculous in the upcoming World Cup in South Africa, there are certain things that even Great Men should not get away with that easily. One of which is sleeping with underage girls.

It would seem like it goes without saying, but judging from recent events in my native country of France, it is surprisingly not that obvious to a large number of people.

[This is an email I sent yesterday to Andrew Chapman, Gerard Tully, Jack Gamble, and Juan Zober de Francisco, respectively the President, Vice-President, Speakers Officer and Ents Officer for The Cambridge Union society, a long-established debating institution. A couple of people suggested I post it on Gender Agenda after having published it as a note on Facebook – hopefully the following will speak for itself and inspire other Union Society members to contact the Union Society exec with the same points in mind!]

I was really offended and disappointed by the Union’s decision to hold pole dancing classes, and I feel that many of the people who have supported the classes in the ongoing debate have somewhat missed the point. I believe that sadly, many of these people’s views are borne of the fact that so many of us are successful Cambridge students who are more likely to have come from a suburban, middle-class background and have never been confronted with the reality of lap dancing before.

“In-fighting” is a tired and negative word for what, in my opinion, is a perfectly natural occurrence within any political movement.

Elements of society that are opposed to radical change defend the status quo, and therefore all conservative circles may stand united in the face of opposition. “We want,” they can say in unison, “to remain the same. Any disagreements that we have are subordinate to this initial demand.”